Halloween Queen
by stepintomyworld
Summary: Its Cara's first Halloween in New York! As well as a major step for Caskett. (Part 3 of the Cara Beckett series)


Halloween Queen

It was a week before Halloween and at the precinct, Castle was in his usual chair, Beckett was doing paper work and Ryan & Esposito were debating on the best outfit to wear to Castles' yearly Halloween party, as Alexis and Cara walked in with mountain of bags from various costume stores.

"Cara, what did I tell you, you only need one costume for the Castles' party." scolded Beckett as Cara walked over and gave her a hug. "I know Kate, I bought mine and yours." Explained Cara with a cheeky smile. Castle looked at Alexis and she just surged and smiled. Ryan and Esposito looked over the bags that Cara had absent mindedly put on Esposito's desk, "Nice tiara, who's wearing it?" asked Ryan as he pulled out a sliver, sapphire and diamond tiara. Cara just smiled and said "not telling." Then Beckett stood up, walked over to Esposito's desk, snatched the tiara off Ryan, put it in one of the bags, and handed half of them to Cara and picked up the others and said, "Well boys, this has been an interesting night, I shall say goodnight now and see you tomorrow."

As they got home Cara took the bag off Beckett and put them on the couch and started sorting out what went with what costumes, as she did this, she put in one pile her costume and on the other she put Beckett. Kate just stood there looking at what her niece had bought her. "It brilliant Cara, just brilliant."

"I told Alexis that you would like it. Do you want to try it on or shall we wait for Halloween?" asked Cara in a very excited toned, Beckett could see that she couldn't wait for the party. "Let's wait; it will make the costume seem better."

"Ok, I don't mind."

The next few days seemed to take forever for Cara, she spent her afternoons with Alexis working out last minute party plans, catering and craving jack-o-lanterns. Soon the day arrived, Beckett was working that day, so Cara took the opportunity to shop for some last minute stuff they would need for the costumes. Then she went home and waited for her aunt. It didn't take long before Beckett came home, she seemed more than ready to get her costume on, so Cara hand her the pile she had set aside that was Beckett's costume and they both went into their rooms and got changed,

Cara's costume was an oldie with a twist, she had decide to go as angel, she was wearing a knee length, sliver and blue, short sleeved dress, blue ballet flats, sliver stockings, a pair of slivery, feather wings she found on her way home, a diamond and sapphire necklace and the diamond and sapphire tiara, she had curled her hair ever so slightly and she had a her make-up reflex her clothing, her eye shadow was a deep blue with sliver and her lips were the same colour as normal only they shimmered and her face and arms some-what sparkled with sliver glitter.

As Cara was adding the last touches to her costume, Beckett walked out in hers, she was wearing a floor length, gold & red, long sleeved dress, golden flats and a ruby and gold necklace, she wore a hoodless, red, velvet clock, her hair was curled and pinned back, in it Cara had put a few small roses she had bought, her makeup, was a little different to Cara's, as she had gold eye shadow and her blush and lipstick were a bit deeper and she had no glitter. As the finishing touch Cara put a gold crown with a few rubies on Beckett's head. As Beckett turned to look in the mirror, she was amazed at what Cara had done. She was beautiful.

At the Castles' the party had begun! Castle, dressed in a king's red and gold tunic and crown, walked past Ryan and Jenny, who had dressed up as a mermaid and merman. He also saw Esposito and Laine together as Aladdin and Jasmine, and Alexis dressed as Hermione. Martha was talking to her; she had dressed as a gypsy, Castle looked around; the only two people he hadn't seen yet were Cara and Beckett. Then Cara walked up to Alexis, Ashley & Martha and gave them all a hug, complementing their costume choice, and Alexis returned the compliment, they seemed to drop deep into conversation.

Deciding not to bother them, Castle walked to the punch bowl to get a drink, till he bumped in to a lady. "Oh, I am sorry, I didn't see you there." Apologised Castle as he backed up to see the woman face, as he saw it, both his and her faces went bright red, the lady was none other than Kate Beckett, Castle swallowed soundless and motionlessly, then bowed to Beckett and tried to joke as he said "My lady, welcome to my humble party, I hope you have not planned an encore performance for last year's costume." Beckett smiled shyly and shook her head, "Sorry Castle, this year, it's just me."

"Don't worry, Detective, I'm not disappointed, Cara did well in choosing the costumes, don't you think?" Castle asked as he handed Beckett a drink and they moved through the crowd. "Yes, I give her all credit for the outfits she and I are in tonight." With a laugh they met Esposito, Lanie, Ryan, Jenny, Alexis, Martha and Cara over by one of the sides of the room away from the crowds. "Oh honey, you looking great!" complimented Lanie as Beckett hugged her.

"Don't look to bad yourself, Lanie."

As the party went on, the group split, Alexis introduced Cara to some friends of her, Ryan, Jenny, Esposito and Lanie spent their time talking to other couples, and Castle & Beckett spent most the night just watching the festivities from a safe distance. The silence between them made both of them unconformable, "You look great," said Beckett trying to rid of the awkwardness, "you do too, Kate." As much as they tried, it was still there. "Do you want another drink?" ask Castle, maybe trying to find something to calm them and/or rid the silence. "Hmm? Oh, yeah sure, I would love one." answered Beckett as she handed him her cup. As Castle walked away the same thought went through both their minds, '_Your just friends, stop acting like such a fool!",_ but that didn't work, they still had the awkwardness between them.

Cara turned to see she aunt in such bad spirits, excused herself from the conversation she was in, walked over to Kate, sat next to her, gave her hug and laid her head on Kate's shoulder, Kate leaned her head against Cara's. They just sat there for a few moments, then sat up properly and started to talk, by the time that Castle came back Kate was smiling, at a joke Cara told her, Castle smiled he asked Cara what the joke was, so Cara repeated it and they all laughed. The party went on Cara kept close to her aunt, to keep her compony if she needed it, but far enough away so Kate couldn't see her through the crowd. Whenever Kate got even the littlest bit sad, Cara or Castle would step in and cheer her up.

At about two thirty the next morning, Alexis were curled up, asleep on one end of the couch and Cara on the other. Most of the guests had gone home, the only ones left were Ryan, Jenny, Lanie, Esposito, Beckett and of course Cara, The adults just sat at the table with a poker game between them all. "That had to be my most successful party yet." Proudly remarked Castle, as he threw two more chips into the small mountain of plastic and wood in the middle of the table. "Darling, I have to agree with you." said Martha as she placed her cards on the table and pushed them away. "Well mother, that's new." Joked Castle, the group laugh, as Martha just pulled a face at Castle.

As the game ended Jenny, Ryan, Esposito and Lanie all called taxis and went home and Martha went to bed. Beckett had the difficult task of waking up Cara; Castle stopped her by putting his hands on her shoulders, and whispered in her ear "I don't know if it's just the punch speaking, or the lack of sleep, but why not stay here tonight, I have a spare bed if you need it," Beckett just turned and smiled softly, "thank you," as she said this her stood on her tiptoes and brush her lips softly against his, it been months since they had kissed, they both had been emotionally unsteady then, but they hadn't forgotten what it felt like. Out of passion and/or lunacy, Castle picked up Beckett and kissed her fiercely, she just let it happened, she was happy.

Then she started thinking again, and pulled back. "No, Castle, we can't do this to each other, not now, we're both really drunk and tired, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry." as she was saying this she picked up her clock and walked to the door as she got there, she turned to Castle, her eyes filled with tears, "I'll pick up Cara tomorrow, goodnight." And she opened the door and walked out; then closed the door and walked down the hall.

As she did she began to cry, then the door open behind her, as she turned to see Castle, quickly walking towards her, pick her up and whisper in her ear, "this time, I'm not letting you go Kate, not without a fight." As he kissed her, she just gave in, she had loved him for a long time, and this time neither of them were going to let each other go. "Come on Kate, let go inside, I think we both need a bit of sleep." Castle looked down lovingly at Beckett. She just nodded and almost fell asleep in his arms, he just smiled, scooped her up and carried her inside to the spare bed he had, put her down and closed the door. Then went to his room, where he just fell on to his bed, asleep, with a smug smile on his face.


End file.
